More Politics

Republican U.S. Sen. Scott Brown has accepted a challenge from his Democratic rival in the Massachusetts Senate race, Elizabeth Warren, to a debate hosted by a consortium of media outlets in Boston. But the junior senator's RSVP came with a challenge of his own.

In a statement released Wednesday, Brown's Campaign Manager Jim Barnett, accepted the debate proposal from the Boston media the Boston Globe, NECN, WCVB-TV, WGBH-TV, WHDH-TV, WBUR and WGBH radio in Boston, while urging the Harvard Law School professor to join Brown in a radio debate hosted by WBZ Radio's Dan Rea.

"Scott Brown is accepting the debate invitation from the Boston media consortium," Barnett said. "He will be at the first debate at WBZ radio on June 27, just seven days from now. We hope that Elizabeth Warren will stop dodging and join us next week so we can discuss the problem with her extremely liberal tax and spend policies and why they will kill jobs and further damage the economy."

Warren's camp didn't immediately respond to the challenge although they have previously stated that they are reviewing all proposals and were frustrated about the Brown camp's refusal to sit down and discuss a schedule.

The announcement that the Boston media group's televised debate will take place comes on the heels of Tuesday's news that a debate hosted by the University of Massachusetts Boston and the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate would not happen, considering conditions Brown said must be in place for him to agree.

Brown said his acceptance of the debate proposal was conditional on Vicki Kennedy, the widow of the late Sen. Edward Kennedy, remaining neutral for the remainder of the Senate race.

Organizers Lisa McBirney, chief operating officer of the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate, and Christopher Hogan, chief of staff for the Office of the Chancellor at the University of Massachusetts Boston rejected the demand on Tuesday.

“This non-endorsement pledge is unprecedented and is not being required of any other persons or entities,” they wrote in a letter to the Brown and Warren campaigns. “To us, such a pledge seems inappropriate when a non-media sponsor issues a debate invitation.”